Local search is vital for small businesses. According to Hubspot “46% of all Google searches are looking for local information“, which means if your business isn’t optimized for local search, you could be missing out on potential customers who are ready to shop in your area.
Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of improving search engine visibility for local businesses, primarily those with brick-and-mortar locations. If someone is looking for a service locally in their area, and they type the “keywords+ location” in Google, you would ideally want to appear in the local results (map box).
Example: If we type a keyword “Mechanic London” then this box appears in Google results.
Similarly, if you are an electrician who is based in a local suburb in say Carindale (Brisbane city, Australia) then you would want to rank high in the map box for “Electrician Carindale”. (as one of our clients do)
This “Map box” is followed by the 10 other natural organic listings. Of course, it is important for your business to be found in these local results too. So, what can you do?
Everything mentioned in this SEO Guide series applies to Local SEO too. In addition, local website optimization required that you:
- Have a “Contact us” page on your website with your business contact details such as Full Business Address, Phone number of each of your physical office locations.
- Register your site in your local directories.
- Make sure you have exactly the same name and contact details on your site and other sites where you have registered your business such as directories. Google crawls the web and they should see the same contact details next to your business name.
- Use local keywords on your web page to rank for that term. So, if you are located in “Paris” make sure you mention the “Paris” keyword multiple times on your page.
- Be sure your business is properly listed on Google My Business – www.google.com/business/ (most important), Yelp, and Facebook. Google my business is very important to appear in this “map box”.
Example– If you type our business name “WebsiteFix” in Google.com.au then you’ll see this –
This box on the right side is there because I registered in Google my Business.
Now, you can also release updates, latest news, offers etc on Google my business. It will show up below the box something like this:
You should also ask your happy customers to leave the reviews, so that if someone types your business name in Google, then they can see all details and reviews. For instance, we’ve received 17 five-star reviews on Google from our happy clients that help us build credibility with prospects and show them the awesome work we do for our clients.
Local SEO box along with great reviews create good credibility and increase your chances to get more leads and sales.
You can also add location pages on your website. If you have more than one brick and mortar location, create location pages. Location pages provide readers with your name, address, phone number, store hours, unique store descriptions, parking/transit information, promotions, and testimonials from happy customers.
But be careful, the content on these pages should be unique. Do not copy-paste the same text from other pages. You’ll get big-time bonus points if you add a Google Map to your website on your respective location page(s).
We often do this for our clients and see huge success in getting more organic traffic and sales.
NEED HELP?
If you’re planning to improve your SEO, we can help. We offer 2 weeks of FREE SEO to give you an easy start. Obligation-free. During these 2 weeks free period, we provide you with –
- Full keyword research and a list of the most important keywords in your industry,
- Your website’s full audit report and
- a SUGGESTIONS doc. to improve website traffic (All worth $500+ but FREE for you).
Grab this limited time offer by calling the number below.
(07) 3076 6921
Vikas Rana
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